Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: megatherium
I saw an episode of NOVA a couple of years ago that examined the theories of what caused the extinction of the mammoths. The two theories under consideration were climate change (end of the ice age) and human predation.

You must have been staying at a Holiday Inn while watching Nova.

Note that in your own reply, you used the term "theory." A theory is an idea to be tested and proved. A theory is not a fact. There used to be a bunch of scientists that had theories about a flat planet and a sun that rotated around the earth. Eventually these theories were proved wrong.

Don't believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see.

46 posted on 07/14/2004 10:55:41 AM PDT by been_lurking
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies ]


To: been_lurking
You must have been staying at a Holiday Inn while watching Nova.

?

Note that in your own reply, you used the term "theory." A theory is an idea to be tested and proved. A theory is not a fact.

Yes -- a theory in science is a testable hypothesis that explains observations. Sometimes "theory" is applied to things that are completely accepted as fact, such as the "theory of relativity" (this particular theory made a number of predictions which have all been abundantly verified). Sometimes "theory" is applied to things generally accepted as true but perhaps still controversial (the theory of evolution might be an example of this), and sometimes to things which are as yet completely unproved. In the case of our dear departed mammoths, there are competing theories that offer good explanations for their extinction but no convincing test available for eliminating the one theory or the other. I think, however, it is clear that humans were capable of causing the extinction (whether or not they were guilty).

47 posted on 07/14/2004 11:35:48 AM PDT by megatherium
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson